How Zero Grav started their logo design journey

Company name

Zero Grav or ZeroGrav or ZeroGrav.com

Overview

We're looking for a corporate identity that explores the boundaries of time and space (and gravity, of course!) for our new technology company, which we hope to build into a large consumer technology company.

PLEASE STAY AWAY FROM STOCK IMAGERY like icons, etc. WE LOVE ICONS, but they have to be unique to the design. If you want to throw a stock image on there to test our feelings for the overall design, go for it! Just note it in the comments, that you'll replace it with one you draw if we like the direction.

We'll provide comments on each entry and try to accentuate the positive aspects of all the entries. We don't like criticism too much, either. ;-)

Some of the ideas we had were 50's style curvy cartoon rocket ships, but we couldn't figure out how to make it work with a high tech site design. We still like this idea if someone can make it work, and anything space, network, or tech related is great. We love 3D look and classic 50's iconography. Matching the text font to the style of the logo is way bonus.

Other ideas we toyed with were abstract circular logos evoking motion and "zero" (we don't like purely abstract logos as much), etc. We don't like the idea of Isaac Newton, apple's falling from trees, really old woodcut motifs, etc.

Thanks for participating and the best of luck to each of you!!

Tell us a bit about who you are and the people you reach

Our target audience is consumers of varying ages and genders.

Apple's logo is a great example of a logo that is instantly recognizable, iconic, looks great in black and white as well as color, and does not limit them to any industry or field.

Requirements

UPDATED

Welcome to the contest!

This is my first time judging a contest like this, so please bear with me! I'm a designer too and know how easy it is to have your feelings hurt, so I'm trying to give plenty of good feedback along with the bad.

If I just give you positive feedback but immediately eliminate your design, then it probably means I might like your design but the direction isn't right for this contest and please take a different direction (although I might do this if you give a zillion variations.) Try something new, and don't be afraid to move away from the rocket idea if you have something good. I've seen some great stuff with people doing things like paper airplanes, astronauts, planets, stars, people in free fall, etc.

Sometimes people submit designs and I have to go back and compare them to see what the difference is. Please only submit variations if they're actually DIFFERENT in a substantial way. (thanks for that!)

I'm trying to give feedback for EVERY logo, but it's exhausting to spend three hours a day giving some good comments on the more than 100 logos that come in every day.

- Please don't abbreviate, or use the number zero (or variations), or ".com"

- Please show logo on either black or white backgrounds, or both -- especially no gradients for backgrounds

- Prefer Web 2.0 gradients unless you're doing some good shading for a rocket or something. Google for "Web 2.0 Gradients" for your program

- Please crop tightly around your logo so that it shows as big as possible in the preview. I usually don't open the logo in a new window to see the details (and it's a logo, so it should work at small sizes)

- Vector logos only!

- If you are using stock illustrations, you must state so in the comments along with the license and costs if any.

- Please stick with lowercase, sans-serifed fonts unless you have a good reason not too.

- Don't go crazy with a zillion color variations unless they really do something with it. I'm a designer too and can generally figure out what I'd like to do with colors.

- To see the logos I like, change "Show Only" to show only four and five starred logos.

- It's ok to copy ideas, but you must be original in your artwork.

- Please do SOMETHING with the font -- hand kern if needed, round corners, whatever. I see a lot of stuff where people draw (or download) an illustration and pair it with a basic black Arial font. Need a bit more than that.

- Please no jumbled letters. It's just hard to read and doesn't feel like "design"

- Please avoid rainbows and elements of other company's logos or trade dress like apples or coke bottles

- rockets are cool, but any iconography that represents zero gravity, space, or anything else works!

- Logo may be used as a two-color imprint (possibly transparent) on printed materials, embroidered materials, favicon (16x16), etc.

- Logo may be used on pages designed by non-designers with garish color choices ;-)

- Logo should look good on both dark and light backgrounds.

- Part or all of the logo should fit into a 16x16 pixel area for favicons, or something small and cute that has similar style (this is tough, so wait until final selection to give it a try)

If your logo makes it into the final selection and can't be reduced to two colors without dithering, please provide an edited version that will work for two color printing as well.

We prefer vector logos if possible, so that we can resize for whatever need we might imagine. We don't have any font or color preferences, but tend to lean more toward brighter colors and sans serif fonts.

We will need a full copyright transfer/release with all rights in any medium for any legal use worldwide for the winning logo.

We provide comments on EVERY entry and will star the entries as well! We know how hard a good design is to do and thank you in advance for your hard work!